Children's Alliance News Feed

Our public policies—the laws, budgets, rules and other decisions of elected representatives—can either help kids succeed or put obstacles in their path. Racial equity assessment tools can shape our public choices so that they enhance every child’s access to opportunity.

Home visiting helps parents get their children off to the best possible start in life. But right now, this highly needed service needs your support.

At the end of March, federal funding for home visiting is set to expire without congressional action to extend the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) program. MIECHV has allowed an additional 1,300 Washington families to receive home visiting services.

One of the most treasured parts of our state Constitution is Article IX, section 1, the guarantee for Washington families of a basic education for their children.

As courts, governing officials, parents and policymakers now know, we have fallen short in this promise to kids.

One of the ways that educational inequity shows up in the lives of children is when local tax levies help schools with higher-value property raise more money. America’s legacy of racial discrimination restricted children of color to poorer communities. Because of this, the schools that are financially under-resourced are tasked with educating the children most vulnerable to household hunger. This disparity is another feature of the opportunity gap between children of color and children in low-income families and kids growing up in more affluent school districts.

We can do something, this session, to close that gap by passing House Bill 1295 / Senate Bill 5437, ensuring that more children in high-poverty areas have the fuel to learn all day.

Opportunities for positive change don’t come along every day. But right now, we have the historic opportunity to make a positive impact on the lives of children. Together, we can seize it.

The bipartisan Early Start Act, sponsored by Sen. Steve Litzow (R – Mercer Island) and Rep. Ruth Kagi (D – Seattle), would integrate the latest findings on how children learn into the everyday lives of Washington’s babies, toddlers and preschoolers. The bill would: